The adventures of the Struthers family while serving as missionaries in Korea.

Friday, March 13, 2009

Hiking-with no snow this time

I got out for a hike before our new term started. I headed to a different part of the same mountain area that I have gone to the last two times. I have been studying up on the different hiking areas and found that there are not many places to go that have long hikes. Most of them are just a few miles. So I decided to go to the same mountain but hike a completely different set of trails. These trails weren't as difficult as the other ones, and the longest loop to hike was about 9k. It didn't take long, but it felt great! The weather was wonderful. It was actually a little too warm at times for how I was dressed. Here I am at the top. The last photo shows the view from the top looking in one direction. From that ridge if you look in the opposite direction, the next photo is the view that you will see. I go to the mountains to get out of the city, and then the view from the top is of the city.This part of the trail goes along the side of a rock. There are a few sets of these steps on the side of the mountain.These next two photos are out of order. This was taken at the beginning of the trail. There is a funny story that goes with this. When I got there, I saw this greyhound (of all things) running around. People were just staring at it. The park rangers were yelling in Korean. I thought it belonged to them and it was being naughty and not coming to them when they called. It came near me at one point and I tried to sweet talk it to come closer and the rangers yelled something at me and motioned me "no". So I figured they didn't want me to touch it. I was headed into the bathroom before going up the trail, so I carried on with my business. The line was long in the restroom, so it took me awhile to get out. When I came out all of the park rangers came toward me and said, "No, No". So I thought I was getting kicked out for trying to pet their dog. Then, one of them who spoke a little English said, "No dog-Korea National Park". I still thought they were telling me not to pet the dog, so I said, "sorry" and was going to head up the trail, but they kept repeating themselves. Finally, they started gesturing toward the dog and me and pointing me out of the park. I realized they thought the dog was mine. There were people all around because it was a busy hiking day and everyone was staring at me! So I told them, "No, not mine!" "The dog is not mine." They didn't believe me at first. I had to convince them that the dog did not belong to me and then I just started walking. Phew! I was unnerved about the whole thing for awhile. It's amazing when there is a language barrier how a small misunderstanding can become kind of scary when people start yelling at you. : ) I just hope they didn't decide to take the dog home and eat it. There's not that much meat on a greyhound. : )He's so cute! He reminded me a little of my sister's greyhound, but black and white instead of brown and white.More view of the city.More veiw...and there's still city in it.Map of the trail. I did the outside loop.Looking to the far right of all the other photos. This one was just mountains.Looking to the far left of all the other ones.Looking over the part of the mountain that I hiked the last few times I was out.Another shot of the other side.Feeling great at the top!Interesting....A veiw from the top.